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The Chichester Centre for Fairy Tales, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction

The heart of this project is a focus on the fantastic imagination as a creative force both in literature and culture.

The Centre provides a forum where writers, scholars, performers, artists and aficionados can explore world folk narratives, fairy tales, fantasy and speculative fiction in various forms including print, film, and the visual and performing arts.

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Gramarye Journal

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Gramarye Journal

Gramarye, the Centre's journal, publishes academic articles, creative writing, book reviews and contemporary art.

Gramarye issue 24 is now available to order from our online store.

The printed edition of Gramarye is only available to pre-ordering customers and subscribers. To guarantee your printed copy of future issues, please subscribe.

Limited numbers of back issues are
available here.

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Scrivener Offer

Gramarye readers are entitled to 20% off Scrivener software, the project management tool for writers. Just visit their website and enter the coupon code ‘SUSSEXCENTRE’.

Events

Current events and Call for Papers

Online conference

Giambattista Basile: The Other Fairy Godfather

Online conference: Saturday 24 June 2023
via Microsoft Teams

Alongside Francesco Straparola, Giambattista Basile is the most significant early author of fairy tales in Western Europe. Described by Jack Zipes as ‘the most talented and innovative of the fairy-tale writers in Europe’, Basile’s Lo cunto de li cunti is a seminal text, the influence of which – although contested – is immeasurable. It is also an important product of the Italian Renaissance, and Neapolitan culture in particular. To mark the significance of Basile, the Chichester Centre for Fairy Tales, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction will hold this one-day conference to discuss Basile, his work, and the wider world of which he was a product.

Tickets £15 from our online store.

Alongside Francesco Straparola, Giambattista Basile is the most significant early author of fairy tales in Western Europe. Described by Jack Zipes as ‘the most talented and innovative of the fairy-tale writers in Europe’, Basile’s Lo cunto de li cunti is a seminal text, the influence of which – although contested – is immeasurable. It is also an important product of the Italian Renaissance, and Neapolitan culture in particular. To mark the significance of Basile, the Chichester Centre for Fairy Tales, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction will hold this one-day conference to discuss Basile, his work, and the wider world of which he was a product.

Draft programme

NB: This timetable is meant to be read as UK time zone (British Summer Time, UTC+01:00)

10 a.m. – 10.30 a.m. Pre-Basile

  • Introduction to Giambattista Basile, the person and the historical backdrop, by conference organiser Lorenza Gianfrancesco

10.30 – 11.30 a.m. Keynote

  • Ruth B. Bottigheimer – Basile and Greek Mythology

11.30-11.45 a.m. Tea break

11.45-1 p.m. Basile – influences and impact

  • Davood Khazaie – Women’s Resistance and Rebellion in Giambattista Basile’s Fairy Tales
  • Nemanja Radulovic – A tale from Pentamerone and its Serbian variant
  • Cristina Bacchilega – ‘Reanimating Basile’s Tale in a Neapolitan Film: Gatta Cenerentola

1-2 p.m. Lunch break

2-3.30 p.m. Basile: Structures and themes

  • Benjamin Guyer, The Denial of Childhood: Mental Trauma in ‘The Young Slave’ and ‘Snow White’
  • Assunta Vitale, PhD – The narrative frame of the Cunto: structure, collections and paradoxes
  • Giulia Depoli – Neapolitan folktales between the 15th and the 17th centuries: Masuccio, Morlini and Basile

The Folklore Map

Explore folklore in Sussex

Download a free interactive map (pdf) of folklore in Sussex and the South Downs, created by The Chichester Centre for Fairy Tales, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction in collaboration with the South Downs National Park. The map is based on Jacqueline Simpson’s ‘Folklore of Sussex‘ and illustrated by Abi Daker.

Please download the maps and open in Acrobat to ensure the document works properly on your machine.

Folklore Map Interactive (A3 printable/searchable version): Zoom in and click on the map icons to be taken to the relevant stories, or click on stories to be taken to their place on the map.

Folklore map (Pop-up text version): Zoom in and click on the map icons to see pop-up stories.

Join the Folktales mailing list

Hear from the centre

This list is used to facilitate interdisciplinary discussion of fairy tales, fantasy fiction and speculative fiction. Contributions may include:

  • News about conference, events and relevant publications
  • Calls for papers or submissions
  • Research enquiries
  • Other announcements

Contact Us

Get in touch

Email the Chichester Centre for Fairy Tales, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction on info@sussexfolktalecentre.org or speak to our Centre Assistant Heather Robbins on h.robbins@chi.ac.uk.

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